Into the Black

Walking into the lounge area with Carissa, I smiled at the Princess, and said, “Well, we’ve jumped to warp, so we should be in Alpha Centauri in four days.”

The Princess breathed a sigh of relief. “And the ships that were pursuing us?”

I shrugged, and said, “The girls nailed the fighters with the turrets once they slowed down in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The destroyer got trapped in multiple blast waves when I used missiles to ignite a pocket of concentrated hydrogen it was flying through. They did not survive the experience. But apparently, they were in contact with your brother, because immediately after that the twat-waffle put a bounty on my head. So both the Raven and I will be hiding our true nature when we get to Alpha Centauri. For now, let me show you your quarters, and then I need to have a chat with my crew, since we only just now got acquainted.”

The Princess nodded, and allowed me to lead her to one of the passenger cabins. The entertainment options were a bit limited compared to the facilities on a passenger liner, but there was a vid screen, with an impressive library of titles ranging from the informative to the erotic. I told her to simply call on Raven if she needed anything, and closed her door.

The crew was waiting for me in the lounge, so I sat on a chair, and looked them over. “Well, good work on your first battle, everyone. You all kept your heads, and didn’t panic when we got into a situation that was clearly way more than we should have been able to handle. Jaynie, Cali, good work on shooting down those fighters.” I held up a hand to keep them from protesting, and said, “I know they slowed down because of the atmosphere, but I bet neither of you had Gunnery until that point, right?” They nodded, so I continued, “So hitting anything is damn impressive for rookies. Keep up the good work.”

I turned to Carissa, and said, “Good work keeping your head. I know your role wasn’t as ‘active’ as the rest of ours, but you played a vital role in us escaping, don’t forget that. I can’t doublecheck a navcomp while I’m avoiding missiles and beam weapons, and I needed Raven’s attention on helping analyze the sensors to set up our trap back there.”

Finally, I turned to look at my knelfi mechanic. “I know the blast wave shook us around a bit, Shearah. Everything OK in the engine room?”

She nodded, and said, “Yes, Master. The ship was well maintained before I got here, so other than a few unsecured items that got knocked over, everything was fine. But who is Raven?”

I chuckled, and said, “Oh, yeah, I didn’t introduce you all before, did I? This ship has a fully functioning AI. She’s a sentient being, and I’ve decided to treat her as such. Her contact information has been sent to each of your bracers, allowing you to talk with her while you’re off the ship. As for on the ship? Raven, if you please?”

Raven appeared next to me, in her black-dressed avatar, and smiled at the crew. “Hello there. As the Captain said, I am Raven, the AI of this ship. I look forward to working with each of you.”

With that taken care of, I looked at the others, and said, “We’ve got four days to kill while we travel to Alpha Centauri. As you know, our passenger is Princess Sheila of the Terran Empire. She’ll be getting off at the fleet base, and after that, we’ll make a brief tour of the system, delivering our cargo, before getting more cargo and moving further out, away from Sol system.”

“Now, I’m going to reveal a couple things, and I am going to trust you all not to go blabbing about it. If you do talk, then it is likely we’ll all get hunted down and killed. Maybe worse.” He paused, making sure he had their attention, and said, “I’ve got a couple useful unique abilities that were given to me due to some unfortunate circumstances with my coming to this world. Suffice to say, I was in a worse position than Cali was when I woke up.”

He ignored the shocked look on their faces, and continued, “Anyways, I have a unique Illusion-type power that lets me do a full-sensory disguise. Takes some time to set up, and I don’t want the Princess or Navy types knowing about it, so I’m not going to show it off now.”

Jaynie looked confused. “Why’s that such a big secret, boss? Sounds like it’d be damn useful.”

I grinned at Jaynie, and said, “Of course it is useful. But if everyone knows about it, then it becomes a lot less useful, no? Not to mention that they’d probably try and throw me in a deep dark hole and study me to figure out how I do it. And that’s just the governments.”

The girls were nodding now, so it seemed like I’d gotten through to them. “Anyways, now that is taken care of, Raven, can you assign the crew quarters to the girls?” He looked back to the shocked slaves. “Oh, don’t worry, my pretties. I’ll be enjoying your company, but especially on a ship like this, not having your own private space can make people go bonkers. You’re all free to pursue your own interests and hobbies, so long as they don’t go against me, the ship, or the corporation.”

Raven simply nodded, and said, “As you wish, Captain. I’ve forwarded the information to their bracers.”

Smiling at the projection, I nodded, before looking back to the slaves. “Jaynie, Cali. As our resident combat experts, I want you to take a look at the practice range that was set up in the cargo hold. See how good it is, get with Raven to see if there are any upgrades you might want to make, with the understanding that stuff may have to get moved around when we have a lot of cargo. I want ideas for both practicing with ranged weapons, and sparring. Put together a proposal, and forward it to me before we exit hyperspace.” They nodded, and left to go do that.

I turned to look at the other two ladies. “Yes, you’re going to learn to fight, ladies. I don’t expect you two to equal Jaynie and Cali, but I won’t have you being dead weight if we get into a ‘situation’ like we did on the station. So learning how to shoot and how to defend yourself from at least random muggers is going to happen.” The girls looked displeased, but nodded. Not like they had a choice, and they knew it.

“Carissa, check out what passes for an infirmary on this boat. Give me a run-down of both your capabilities, and what we’re equipped to handle here. Get with Raven, and see what kind of improvements we can make. I’m not expecting us to have a planetary-level surgical center, but I’d like to know that we can at least patch someone up and keep them from dying until we get somewhere we can check them into a hospital if need be. I want a list of upgrades you need for that by Alpha Centauri.”

“Yes, Master.” She turned, and left, as well. Now I was left with just the young knelfi girl, looking at me, nervously.

I smiled at her, and placed a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. She shivered, clearly a bit frightened of what was coming. A quick mindread told me that she knew that most female slaves were forced to sleep with their owners at some point (especially if they were male), and she’d already prepared herself for that, even if she wasn’t exactly pleased with the idea. At the same time, she was a little intrigued. She was a virgin, but she wasn’t naïve or sheltered. She also didn’t have that high a view of her looks, especially sitting next to Carissa and Cali. Like many people, she failed to see her own charms.

I maneuvered the girl down the hall to my cabin, one hand resting lightly on her waist. “Shearah, you need to let go of this idea that you aren’t as good as my other slaves.” Her head turned around, her eyes wide, and I simply smiled as I shut the door behind us. “Yes, I took a peek inside your head. You are right that Carissa has an elegant beauty to her, and Cali looks built for sex. But you, my dear, are no less beautiful than they are, simply a different type.”

“R-really?” In my experience, no woman dislikes being told they are beautiful, especially when they are in the presence of other beautiful women. It may be simple vanity at play, or something else, but an honest appraisal telling a woman she’s beautiful is never a misstep, unless she thinks you’re trying to distract her from something you did.

I leaned in, and began pulling her armor off. “Really. Carissa is a work of art. Cali is the embodiment of lust. But you, girl, are like the wild rose. Maybe there are other roses redder than you, or with bigger blossoms, but they were designed to be that way. You have that natural beauty that few can match.”

By this point, I had backed her against the bed, and was beginning to pull off the skinsuit I had bought for her. She gasped as the suit came down past her chest, revealing her perky breasts. She tried to hide herself with her hands, but I caught them, and kissed her on the lips.

Seduction has increased to 9/100.

+1 CHA

Shearah shuddered, and melted into my arms with the kiss. Gently, I pushed her back, lowering her to the bed. It wasn’t like Lord_Kickass’s bed straight from a ‘by the hour’ love motel, but it was still comfortable, and large enough for two, maybe three people if they were snuggled together. With the knelfi girl on her back, I ran one hand down her belly, tracing along her leg as I lifted it up, until I came to her boot. Pulling off first one boot, than the other, took a moment and tickled Shearah’s feet, causing the girl to giggle playfully.

Slowly, I began pulling her suit down again, slipping it over her hips, and revealing her moistening sex. She blushed when she saw where I was looking, and again tried to cover herself with her hands, but I lifted her legs up, still caught with the suit that was only down to her knees, and brought those knees down to her chest with one hand.

Leaning forward, I moved her hand away, and stretched my tongue out to get my first taste of a knelfi girl. She was sweet, with a hint of strawberries. And she was getting wetter by the moment. She squirmed as much as she could in the position I held her in, first trying to avoid my tongue, then trying to meet it more fully.

Finally, when she was hovering on the edge of climax, I drove my tongue inside her sending her crashing over as she screamed out, “MASTER!” With a smile, I stood, and kissed her once again, letting her taste herself on my lips.

“Now, we begin.”